PATIENTS and residents have hit out at teething problems at Birmingham’s new £2.6 billion superhospital.

At least 20 families have complained that loved ones needing treatment have faced long queues to be admitted to a bed at the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Edgbaston.

They say there has also been maintenance issues, including light fittings falling out and showers spouting out scalding hot water at the health unit which is now treating Selly Oak’s patients.

Heartlands Hospital chiefs have also said that it is having to treat emergency patients at their A&E department because the Queen Elizabeth is struggling to cope.

Construction worker Paul Brough, from Billesley, said his wife Noline had to wait 12 hours to be admitted on to a ward with a collapsed lung after being referred by her GP.

“We were sitting in the clinical decisions unit with ten other people in the same boat,” said Mr Brough. “It feels as though they have opened it before it was ready.”

Mark Evans, of Northfield, said a lighting fitting fell out of the ceiling, just missing his 36 year-old wife Ann, and that the sensor-activated shower had scalding hot water.

“Ann was put in a posh side room, but other patient notes were left in there with us on the chair, while the nurses were so stressed and arguing with doctors about staffing rotas and not having enough people,” said Mr Evans.

Gareth Duggan, Trust spokesman, said: “It is normal during this period for a major project to experience some technical problems as new equipment and services are used for the first time in a new environment.

“We are unable to comment directly on individual cases.”

Meanwhile, there have been issues with resident parking, with people living in Leasow Drive, in Selly Oak.

They say when the hospital was under construction, Birmingham City Council added double yellow lines to prevent extra traffic blocking the road, with a temporary car park on a grass verge added by the hospital for residents.

But now the hospital has opened, the temporary car park has closed and transport council officers are keeping the double yellow lines – leaving residents nowhere to park.

Angry householder Dipo Olajide said: “We have put up with years of traffic hell with the promise that it would be better when it opened but it is not.”

Simon Houltby, Birmingham City Council spokesman, said on parking issues: “Following completion of the hospital construction phase, it was agreed with the Residents’ Group the Trust’s temporary car park would close, but double yellow lines would remain in place while options for a residents parking scheme were explored.

“We continue to work with the residents’ group to find a longer term solution.”